Sunday, January 29, 2017

Text
of the Week: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit
and truth.” John 4:24

Welcome
to today’s services … and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the
first time. It’s good to meet together – that’s right at the heart of what we
do Sunday by Sunday in our services. It’s a time to catch up with each other, a
time to share our joys and our sadnesses. Coming to church is a bit like
meeting up with the family. It’s where we get to know each other. It is only as
we get to know each other that we can be a support to each other. It’s also a
place to meet with God. That’s an awesome thought. Once the greetings are done,
the conversations over take a moment or two to be quiet, to be still in the
presence of God. And then realise that this is not just a place for us to meet
with God but for God to meet with us. Let’s have a spirit of expectation. In
the words of our service and in the silence of our thoughts God meets us: it
may be a challenge that we need, it may be the peace and the comfort God alone
can give. Today we continue our look at what it takes to be church: we are called
to be Christ-centred, Bible-based, Spirit-filled, Inclusive and today …
Worshipful. We are working through our GIFT course as we seek to ‘Grow In Faith
Together’. Still to come: Prayerful, Missional, Well-managed (look out for the
questionnaire we are launching today!) and Visionary.

Welcome
and Call to Worship

MTS
2 Be still

Prayer
and the Lord’s Prayer

Introducing
our Survey about Church at Highbury

A
custom to follow

What
customs do you have?

What
things do you do regularly?

Reading:
Luke 4:16-21

Jesus
went to the synagogue as was his custom – met together to do what

Value
of gathering together

A
Hy-Spirit Song

Activities
for all over 3

Gathering
Together for Worship

What
does it take to be church here at Highbury, our Highbury Congregational Church?

We
are called to be Christ-centred, Bible-based, Spirit-filled, Inclusive and
today … Worshipful. We are working through our GIFT course as we seek to ‘Grow
In Faith Together’. Still to come: Prayerful, Missional, Well-managed (look out
for the questionnaire we are launching today!) and Visionary. That’s going to
lead us up to our Annual Meeting when we review the last three years and take
stock of how we are doing and reflect on where we are going.

Worship
is at the heart of what we do in Church – it is one of those things that sets
us apart – it is the very nature of what it takes to be church. On Sunday at
10-30 and 6-30 we have our services of worship – what is it that makes worship
so important to us.

So
… why’s it important?

Let’s
think tomorrow – someone asks you … so what did you do yesterday? I went to
church – why do you do that?

Someone
is making plans for next weekend – so what are you doing on Sunday? - I go to church. Why do you do that?

How
would you respond to someone who asked you … Why go to church – what’s the
point – what’s in it for me?

Time
to share in two’s and threes and then with us all

My
response … a bit off the wall. Actually what goes on in here is not the thing
that really counts – it’s what goes on out there. It’s not the hour here that
makes the difference – it’s what we do tomorrow and every day this week.

So
for me what counts is the rest of life – the working week – but I believe it’s
not just a week to drift through – life is not just to drift through – you can
do anything.

God’s
given us our life – and he gives us a new life – a new purpose – a real sense
it’s worthwhile – an ultimate goal - there’s a presence to geth us trhgough, a
strength to draw on. Jesus maps out for us what to do.

I
believe God’s behind this world, in this world and makes a difference – and he
makes a difference through those who are willing to follow him and follow in
the footsteps of Jesus and find the difference he can make in their lives.

It
matters what we do who we are what we say what we think. We can make a
difference. And what counts is the rest
of the week.

And
that is what makes coming together for worship so important.

Three
analogies.

Football
– what counts is what happens on match day – scoring goals, keeping goals out.
So a new striker joins the club this week – his name is Wootton – he arrives
and what counts is what he does out there in the match. But the manager says –
I’ll see you at the training ground. He coan’t say – no I won’t bother with the
training I’ll just turn up to play.

Coming
together in church is the training ground – this is where we are challenged

Think
of stewards stewarding an event – who are going to be present shaping a crowd
and what they do - they have to go to the briefing first.

This
is the briefing for the week.

To
keep the car on the road and doing what it needs to do you have to take it to
be filled up with petrol – an interesting analogy – with the use of the word
‘service’ – you take it to be serviced to keep it on the road to a service
station to top up with petrol.

This
is what keeps us on the road.

Worship
is a two way thing – we need to focus on God – but it’s used by God to speak to
us.

A
two way thing.

We
speak to God – God speaks to us.

It
is how a football team works, it is how a briefing works, it is how you keep
the car going – it is how God in Christ by the power of his spirit can make a
difference in the world through us …

Jesus
gathered together with others as was his custom – it’s what he did to sustain
him.

And
his first followers too:

What
counts is out there for the rest of the week – and the great difference God in
Christ by the power of his spirit can make in our lives – to change, transform,
to comfort to challenge, to keep us going, to give us purpose, to give us
direction – to make a difference.

And
it is transformative.

One
of the finest descriptions of what makes up worship is in Acts 2:42

The
lives of the followers of Jesus have been transformed and they are bubbling
over – something makes a difference.

It’s
worth being part of.

It’s
something that can make a difference to everyone.

The
outpouring of the Spirit – everyone sees the difference it makes – and they
want a stake in it.

What
shall we do – b part of of the movement …

Acts
2:27-32

Now when they
heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other
apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be
forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is
for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the
Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and
exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those
who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand
persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

That’s
the elements of worship

They
devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching

At the heart of what we do together
is reading, sharing, opening ourselves to the Scriptrures and in the Scriptures
reading through the eyes of Jesus as the Apostles have opened up to us. The
teaching that’s been handed down.

Then
interestingly the next thing is fellowship.

Fellowship
with each other

It’s
good to meet together – that’s right at the heart of what we do Sunday by
Sunday in our services. It’s a time to catch up with each other, a time to
share our joys and our sadnesses. Coming to church is a bit like meeting up
with the family. It’s where we get to know each other. It is only as we get to
know each other that we can be a support to each other.

It’s
good to share greetings. It’s good to catch up with each other. This is where
we can get to know each other. It’s not just a nice extra – it’s part of our
worshp – it’s why we have brought our serving area for coffee and tea into the
church so that it is very much part of what we do as we meet together.

Fellowship
with each other.

But
also fellowship with God.

It’s also a place to meet with God.

That’s
an awesome thought. Once the greetings are done, the conversations over take a
moment or two to be quiet, to be still in the presence of God. And then realise
that this is not just a place for us to meet with God but it’s also a place for
God to meet with us. Let’s have a spirit of expectation. In the words of our
service and in the silence of our thoughts God meets us: it may be a challenge
that we need, it may be the peace and the comfort God alone can give. Let’s
come expectantly.

Expectations
–

The
breaking of bread – that’s something special for us – we build it into our
worship once a month in the morning and once a month in the evening – we are
doing what Jesus has done, what has been done by his followers down through the
ages. Something that is very special. The presence of the Spirit with us as we
eat and as we drink of the cup.

And
the prayers. What draws us close to God and what draws God close to us.
Speaking to God, listening to God – something to share together – prayers we
share together. The power of prayer in coming together.

Syn
agogoue – is the gathering together place

Con-gregation
– the gathering together

It
is as we gather together in the name of Jesus that the presence of Jesus is
with us here in our midst

OBG 43 and 44 As we are gathered [Hy-Spirit]

There’s
one more twist in the tale.

Can
we keep this spirit of worship on into the week that lies ahead.

What
we say with our lips do we live with our lives

I
come back to that word service – it plays in so many ways.

We
are called to serve God and to serve one another – and that is something that
goes through the hwole of our lives.

In
that conversation Jesus has with the woman at the well from Samaria that is
very much to the fore.

A
life shot through with service, a life shot through with worship

Reading: John
4:19-24

The woman said to him,

‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain,

but you say

that the place
where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’

Jesus said to her,

‘Woman, believe me,

the hour is coming when you will worship the Father

neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we
know,

for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming, and is now here,

when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth,

for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.

God is spirit,

and those who worship him must worship in spirit and
truth.’

It’s
what’s in our hearts, what’s in our lives and not just what’s on our lips – and
then that shapes us up for a week of service

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome if
you are worshipping with us for the first time. This afternoon we have a cream
tea from 3-00 to 5-00 to celebrate our new serving area in church and our new
café space too. We have invited those who use our premises during the week so
come along and give them a warm welcome!

In our services at the moment we are
looking at what it takes to be church.

We’ve looked at the way we are called to
Christ-centred, Bible-based and Spirit-filled.

Today we come on to reflect on
the very last part of the vision we have for our church: that Highbury be a
place that’s open to all … and so, inclusive.

As you are preparing for this
time of worship imagine for a moment you are outside our church. What can you see? Think of all the people who live in the
houses around our church, the houses you have passed on your way to church.
Next imagine you are walking down Oxford Street: you turn right on to the London
Road and walk into town, through the Strand into the centre of town to Boots
Corner … keep on walking down the High Street, past the new Brewery development
and on down the lower High Street towards the Honeyborne line and the railway
bridge just before Tesco’s.

Who do you see?

Elderly people, young people, children, wheelchair users, people of many
nationalities, pushchairs, bikes, families, people who are homeless, women,
men.

Now think of all those who will be
sharing in this service.

And then think of all those who will be coming into
these premises during the coming week.

Ask yourself – does our church reflect
the make-up of people you could see around you? If they came into our church,
would they feel welcome? Would the worship and the life of the church include
them, or drive them away?

Spend some time in prayer and put your thoughts about
these questions into God’s hands, seeking his blessing and praying that our
church can indeed seek to be a place that is open to all.

Welcome and Call to Worship

Praise and worship with Hy-Spirit

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Jesus welcomes all

Galatians 3:26-28

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

All are welcome

Reading; Jeremiah 31:1-14

In our services at the moment we are looking at what
it takes to be church. We’ve looked at the way we are called to Christ-centred,
Bible-based and Spirit-filled. Today we come on to reflect on the very last
part of the vision we have for our church: that Highbury be a place that’s open
to all … and so, inclusive.

Did you try it? Bring to mind the experience? Try it
now?

As you are preparing for this time of worship imagine
for a moment you are outside our church.
What can you see? Think of all
the people who live in the houses around our church, the houses you have passed
on your way to church.

Next imagine you are walking down Oxford Street: you
turn right on to the London Road and walk into town, through the Strand into
the centre of town to Boots Corner … keep on walking down the High Street, past
the new Brewery development and on down the lower High Street towards the
Honeyborne line and the railway bridge just before Tesco’s.

Who do you see?
Elderly people, young people, children, wheelchair users, people of many
nationalities, pushchairs, bikes, families, people who are homeless, women,
men.

Now think of all those who will be sharing in this
service.

How well do we know each other? On the surface we look
fine. But under the surface. I guess we each of us have issues.

Now think of all those who will be coming into these
premises during the coming week.

A large number of groups – a great number of people.

A number of groups provide care and support to particular groups of people for people to
support each other: the Highbury Club for those who are blind and with visual
impairments, Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous; two Heart to Heart
Exercise Groups, a balance group, Slimming World and occasional meetings of the
Gloucestershire 4 x 4 Response Group.

We host a number of life-long learning classes that enable people to study without
working towards a qualification: with the University of the 3rd Age, two Bridge
Classes, a Recorder Consort, an Art Group, a Shakespeare Group and a History of
Art class. We host a Lace-making class, the Carlton Lacemakers, and two
upholstery classes. Two further Art classes have started during the year. For chidden and young people we host three
schools: Monkey Music for toddlers, another music school for Toddlers and a
Rock School for young people. And for all ages, the Cheltenham Philharmonic
Orchestra rehearses each week at Highbury. And the Mid-life Choir-sis rehearses
here too.

Among the interest
groups that use our premises are the
local NHS Retirement Group and the committee of Cheltenham’s Horticultural
Society.

We are home to the 1st Cheltenham (Highbury) Scout
Group, and the 11th Cheltenham Guide Group, and the 7th and 11th Cheltenham
Brownie Groups.

Ask yourself – does our church reflect the make-up of
people you could see around you? If they came into our church, would they feel
welcome? Would the worship and the life of the church include them, or drive
them away?

What would people make of what we are doing now? Does
it make connections? Is it alive? Is it something we believe in and so want to
share?

We have started doing things differently – Film Club –
a mix of different people coming in with something of a message in what we do.
Messy Church – engaging in a different way with worship. Is this high on our
order of priorities?

Are we welcoming of all people?

There’s a wonderful vision Jeremiah has at a moment of
deep distress for the people of God. All has been lost. They languish in exile.
There is nothing for them. Then he has a remarkable vision of the God who is
the God of all the families of Israel.

At
that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel,
and they shall be my people.

Thus
says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
O virgin Israel!
Again you shall take your tambourines,
and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant,
and shall enjoy the fruit.
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.’

Then
comes a remarkable passage and a remarkable vision. It says a great deal about
people with disabilities. Usually when in the Bible we tell stories of people
with things like leprosy, or blindness, or not able to walk the stories are
about the healing that comes to them. But that can be troubling for those who
live with conditions that are not going to go away. Is there something missing.

This
is one of those remarkable moments in the Bible story – when all are welcome as
they are. It is not just when they are ‘better’ when their condition has
finished or been overcome.

For
thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labour, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.

The
exciting thing about this passage is that all come as they are – not as they
have the potential to become.

See,
I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labour, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,

We have worked with Through the Roof on disability
issues – the point of what we were doing was not just to put in ramps and
better facilities in our building, though we have worked hard to do that. It
was about attitudes. It was about acceptance. It was about our understanding
and willingness to accept. The recognition that people are people made in the
image of God and that we affirm each other with our rich variety of abilities.

Richard Sharpe sent me a link to a new group that has
recently started who aim to share just that – introducing disability and Jesus.

Spend some time in prayer and put your thoughts about
these questions into God’s hands, seeking his blessing and praying that our
church can indeed seek to be a place that is open to all.

Song: The Lord’s my shepherd

To seek to be open to all is a challenge at one level
– of understanding, of acceptance – a challenge to us in what we do.

There is also a challenge at another level.

Faith is a funny thing … and religion even funnier.
Religion can so often draw lines to mark out those who are in and those who are
out.

That was very much the case at the time of Jesus and
in the experience of Peter. There were all sorts of things you need to do to be
part of that people of God. Ritual things to do; particular foods to eat;
particular foods to avoid.

In that setting Luke tells the story of one of those
moments of breakthrough for Peter. He had a clear idea in his mind of where to
draw those boundaries.

In any other circumstances if he had been challenged
to accept the hospitality of a high up centurion in the elite part of the
occupying Roman army he would have baulked at the idea.

Acts 10:1-8

In
Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as
it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household;
he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One
afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an
angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’ He stared at him in
terror and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ He answered, ‘Your prayers and your alms
have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a
certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner,
whose house is by the seaside.’ When the angel who spoke to him had left,
he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who
served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

At
the very same time Peter had a remarkable vision of all manner of foodstuffs
that were banned. And yet in his vision he distinctly heard the voice of God
commanding him to get up, kill and eat. Coming to he found Cornelius’s men at
the gate. He was prompted to go. What is difficult for us to appreciate in this
story is just how much it took for Peter to cross that line, break through that
barrier he had erected on religious grounds between us who are in and them who
are out.

Acts
10:25-28

5On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and
falling at his feet, worshipped him. 26But Peter made him get
up, saying, ‘Stand up; I am only a mortal.’ 27And as he talked
with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; 28and
he said to them, ‘You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to
associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not
call anyone profane or unclean.”

That’s
a remarkable comment to make.

Jesus
had said, judge not that you be not judged.

This
is the moment Peter sees the full impact of that insight.

He
shares with Cornelius and with everyone in his house. And then says some
remarkable words

Acts
10:32-36

Then
Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no
partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does
what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he
sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of
all.

This is a question that has hit some parts of the
church hard in the context of sexuality. Is our sexuality all about behaviour
that can be changed … or is our sexuality something that is a part of us that
God accepts in all his glory?

I am drawn to the latter view. Whether we are heterosexual
or homosexual is part of our make-up. And all of us, equally, are loved by God
and made in his image. For all of us there are wonderful guidelines that our
faith offers us about building relationships that are loving, caring, respectful,
faithful and forgiving and they apply to heterosexual and homosexual
relationships alike. It’s not something to make into a big defining issue where
boundaries are drawn … it is simply part of being in that one body of God’s
people where God shows no partiality and where we are all equally called to
share our lives in God’s way of love that is truly open to all.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Text for the week:
Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, …
even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it
will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’
Matthew 21:21-22

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to
any worshipping with us today. During this morning’s service we are going to
share in the Lord’s Supper: we invite all who love the Lord Jesus Christ to
share with us around the table as once again we do as Jesus asked us to do and
remember all that he has done for us.

Can you spot what looks like a mistake that’s actually
not a mistake? Think about that for a moment. Through January and February we
are drawing on part of the GIFT Course and asking what it takes to be church
here at Highbury. We have already looked at the importance of being a
Christ-centred church and of being a church that is rooted in the Bible. Today
we are going to reflect on the need to be a Spirit-filled church. How good that
we do that on the day we share together in the Lord’s Supper. It was as Jesus
shared with his disciples on the night of his betrayal and arrest that he
recognised that they were going to feel very much alone after all that was to
happen in the next few days. It was here, during this meal that he promised
that they would have a presence to draw on, a strength from beyond themselves,
a comforter, to give them the strength that on their own they would never
have. That strength from beyond
themselves, that presence alongside them, that comforter was that Spirit that
was the very Holy Spirit of God himself. As we seek to be the body of Christ
here in this place we cannot do all that we need to do in our own strength. We
too need that strength from beyond ourselves. And we need it not just
occasionally … but all the time. It is as we are being constantly filled with
the Spirit that we will be equipped with the gifts we need to be the church
here in this place. More than that, we will together and individually have
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control – the very things that are the mark of being the church of Christ
here in this place. No, it’s not a mistake. Today’s text for the week may look
the same as last week’s, but it is drawn from this week’s readings in Fresh from the Word. Maybe Jesus said
much the same thing twice because he wanted us to be aware that with that
strength of the Spirit within mountains that seem immoveable can be moved!

Welcome and Call to Worship

207 Come let us worship the Christ of creation

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Seeing Stars!

Reading: Job 38:1-5, 31-3 and 40:3-5

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

No longer alone

Jesus knew what was going to happen.

It wasn’t just that he wanted to prepare his disciples
for it.

It wasn’t just that he wanted to make arrangements
that would be straightforward enough for them to carry out.

He wanted to share with them something else that he
knew.

It wasn’t something he hoped for.

It wasn’t something conditional on what they did –
though Jesus knew exactly how he wanted them to be, how he wanted them to
behave.

He wanted to tell them what was going to happen. It
was a reassurance. It was what would make all the difference.

It was the night on which he was betrayed. He gathered
his close circle of friends together in that Upper Room in Jerusalem knowing
full well what was in store.

They gathered around the table to share one last
Supper – it was the festival of Passover and so it was special.

They were about to eat when Jesus took a bowl of water
and began to wash the feet of his disciples – that’s how he wanted them to be
as well – people always willing to serve, people always willing to serve in
love.

He took his place at the table and he shared thoughts.
It was the last conversation he had with them.

And in John’s gospel the words are recorded at length.

He prayed a prayer with them – and John records that
prayer – a most wonderful prayer.

He took bread, he gave thanks, he broke it and he
shared it.

He took the cup also and he shared it

This was it – a body broken for them, blood shed for
them – sealing a new relationship – a partnership with each other – a
partnership with Jesus – a partnership with God – a new covenant.

It was all so special.

He knew what was in store.

And he knew it was not the end of that wonderful
partnership – but the beginning of something remarkable, something wonderfully special,
something for eternity.

He shared two things with them.

The first was love.

It’s the way he has mapped out.

It’s the way he has lived out.

It’s the way that has brought them together as
friends, friends with each other, friends with God and friends towards
everyone.

“If
you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

It’s
what he said once had washed their feet and given them that example. It’s what
he came back to time and again in the words he sahred at that last supper.

I give you a new
commandment,

that you love one
another.

Just as I have
loved you,

you also should
love one another.

By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love
for one another.

It’s
a wonderfully simple thing to say.

It’s
a massively difficult thing to do.

Just
as I have loved you

You
also should love one another.

And
then Jesus said something else. And this too was something he repeated not once
not twice but four times – as if to press the point home.

‘If
you love me,

you
will keep my commandments.

And
I will ask the Father,

and
he will give you another Advocate,

to
be with you for ever.

This
is the Spirit of truth,

This
is the most wonderful thing about the faith that we share.

If
you love me – love Jesus and then you will keep my commandments.

And
then something follows.

I
will ask the Father … and he will give you another …

Now
that’s what Jesus says is wonderfully powerful. But difficult to grasp the full
meaning of what he intends.

When
Jerome translated the Greek of John’s gospel into Latin he just used the same
word – he couldn’t translate it. Paraclete. Some English translations use that
very word. The Good News Bible – translates the word as ‘Helper’. The NRSV as
Advocate. The NIV as Counsellor – all sorts of different ways of translating
the word.

But
it’s a powerful word. It’s one of the most important words in the New
Testament.

I
looked it up in Barbara Friberg and Timothy Friberg and Neva Miller’s
Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament – it’s a recent dictionary of the
Greek of the New Testament.

a
verbal adjective with a basic meaning one called alongside to help; (1)
as a legal technical term, as one who appears in another's behalf advocate,
defender, intercessor (1J
2.1);
(2) as one who gives protection, help, and security helper, comforter,
counselor (JN 14.16)

William Tyndale came up with the English word
‘comforter’. That comes from com – with alongside – and fort from fortification
– a real strength and fortification alongside us for always.

If you love Jesus you will keep his commandments.

But in doing it you are not alone.

There is one who is with you – how constantly is
called alongside you to help – he is an advocate who will speak up for you in
God’s presence, he is a defender who will stick up for you, an intercessor who
will pray with you and for you. He is one who gives protection, help and
security – a helper, a comforter, a counsellor.

He is that strength from beyond ourselves we need to
get by from one day to the next.

This is the Spirit of truth.

I will not leave you orphaned;

I will not leave you all on your own with no one to
help, with no source of support.

I will not leave you orphaned.

I am coming to you.

In a little while the world will no longer see me,

but you will see me; because I live, you also will
live.

On that day

you will know that I am in my Father,

and you in me,

and I in you.

They who have my commandments and keep them

are those who love me;

and those who love me will be loved by my Father,

and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it
that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered
him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we
will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me
does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the
Father who sent me.

‘I have said these things to you while I am
still with you.

But the Advocate, the One who is called alongside to
help, the Advocate, the Defender, the Intercessor, the one who gives
protection, help and security, the helper, the comforter, the counsellor,

the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you everything,

and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Then comes the most wonderful promise of all.

Peace I leave with you;

my peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let
them be afraid.

This is a wonderful message for us.

At the heart of our Christian faith is the love we are
to share with each other. The simplest of things .. and the most difficult of
things.

But we have a strength from beyond ourselves to draw
on, to keep us going: one who is called alongside to help, on who gives
protection, help and security – the very Spirit of God.

Reading: John 14:15-27

‘If you love me, you will keep my
commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate, to be with you for ever.This is the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because
he abides with you, and he will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to
you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see
me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I
am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my
commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ Judas
(not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to
us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will
keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make
our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and
the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

‘I have said these things to you while I am
still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I
have said to you.Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let
them be afraid.

Praise and worship – Hy-Spirit

Spirit-filled Church

Let’s think of the Spirit of God as the driving force
within us – the energy that keeps us going – the power within.

The Royal Institution Christmas lectures – all about
energy – Supercharged, Fuelling the Future.

The 80th anniversary – lots of former
lecturers. Saiful Islam, a Chemist.

Generating energy to keep the lecture theatre going.
Energy measured in the number of double a batteries needed. Great fun. Lots of
drum rolls from the audience. All whizz bang crash as you would expect from a
chemistry lecturer.

All about the way the body needs energy to keep going.
Plants grow thanks to the energy from the sun – and then that energy is stored
in the plants and in the food we eat. We need to eat food – and then we store
that energy – which we can then use.

Living the Christian life takes energy – we have an
energy source – in the Holy Spirit – from God himself.

But just as the body needs to take in energy.

We need to take in energy from God. Draw in that
energy from the Holy Spirit.

In the opening couple of months of the year we are
looking at what it takes to be church. Christ centred, Bible based – today we
are reflecting on the way in church we are called to be Spirit-filled.

We consatnatly need to be taking in, filling up with
the energy we need for living our lives. Imagine the person who gets a new car
… they fill it up with fuel. And it’s done.

That’s not how it works.

You need constantly to keep filling the car up with
fuel.

So too with our Christian lives – we need to be
constantly filling up with the Energy, the power source, the strength we need –
in the Holy Spirit.

Pray for that strength we need.

We do that individually: we do that together as a
church family too. It is as we together take in that energy and power that we
need that we have the power and the energy we need.

The Holy Spirit
gives us the range of gifts we need as a church family to be body of Christ and
it is that energy source that bears the fruit that is the Christian life.

Shaping our Church for tomorrow

Our sermons on Sunday mornings are exploring the way we can make that a reality.

Mapping the Church of the Future

As we re-shape the life of our church and dream dreams for the future of Highbury we are reading through Acts on Sunday evenings. Our series of sermons with the title 'Mapping the Church of the Future' is a 21st Century view of Acts.